Early One Morning
by mydoctortennant
Summary: Arthur takes Gwen hunting not thinking they hunt what they do; A/G


When Gaius was confronted with the three youths at his door, he didn't even ask what the hell had happened to Merlin's arm. Gwen was currently holding a part of Arthur's torn shirt to it. The Prince was stood sheepishly behind them, looking guilty about something, so Gaius only assumed that Arthur had finally lost it with him.

Merlin sat on the table bench, facing his injured arm towards the physician.

"Merlin?" he raised his eye brow disapprovingly.

"It's not my fault!" he protested.

"Why do I find that hard to believe?"

"It was him!" Merlin pointed at the blonde haired male who stood leaning against the ladder to the higher bookshelves attempting to nonchalant and failing, smirking at his manservant's situation.

"Would I be wrong in thinking he probably deserved it?" Gwen laughed then, lifting away the material from her friend's arm. Gaius looked at it, indicating for Merlin to take off his shirt for better access.

"I wouldn't say deserve it, not exactly," Gwen mused, moving away from Merlin so Gaius could work.

_Merlin had been looking for Arthur for over an hour. A reliable source had told him that he had seen the Prince heading out into the forest to go hunting earlier that morning ('early' and 'morning' in the same sentence together with 'Arthur' confused Merlin). On that instruction Merlin had spent thirty minutes walking through the forest using a simple spell to show him where Arthur gotten to._

"_If you aim a little higher than the target then it will hit a perfect bull's-eye," he could hear the Prince say, "Just relax."_

"_It would be easier to do so without you so close," a female voice laughed. _

"_Gwen?" Merlin said quietly to himself as he stood on a large twig that made the most stupendous snapping sound._

_Arthur spooked and instinctively threw the knife that both himself and Gwen had had in their grasp in the direction of the noise. Merlin saw the knife as it nicked the branch in front of him, path altering and spinning towards his arm, cutting through his tunic before it fell to the floor. Merlin yelped, hand clutching his bicep at a sharp pain went through his arm._

"_Merlin?"_

"I did not spook," Arthur comment pushing off of the ladder so he stood upright as Merlin recounted the story. Gwen stood next to him amused, reaching out to pat him on the arm, "I didn't."

"Of course not," Gwen smiled looking over at Merlin with a small nod of agreement.

"I don't get what was so bad about it that you felt the need to maim me-"

"It's barely a scratch," Arthur protested.

"I could die!" There was a short silence at Merlin's dramatics before the three others all chuckled to themselves, "go on, what were you doing?"

_Arthur stood behind Gwen, one hand on her hip keeping her in the stance, the other outreached to their side holding the knife over Gwen's hand. He guided her hand in the throwing movement, "If you aim a higher than the target then it will hit a perfect bull's-eye," he said as he guided the motion once again. He could feel Gwen tense under his touch, "Just relax."_

_Gwen dropped her hand and turned, Arthur's touch going from one hip to the other as she looked up at him, "It would be easier to do so without you so close," she chuckled flattening the front of his tunic. He smirked bending his head-_

"I don't think they need to know the details, Guinevere," Merlin rolled his eyes; it wasn't like he didn't know about the tent. Or that he hadn't had to cover them three times in the last week because they'd both surreptitiously disappeared at the same time.

"I still don't get why you were a thirty minute walk away."

"To be away from the prying eyes of the castle miscreants," Arthur retorted looking at Merlin pointedly.

"Thirty minutes was a bit overkill don't you think?"

"We were hunting, you can't find a decent kill on the edge," Merlin didn't know the tactics for hunting, nor did he particularly care for them, as much as he understood hunting for food purposes he could never kill an animal himself.

"Still don't understand why you needed Gwen with you."

"_I told you, you would want for nothing, Guinevere," Arthur mentioned as he laid the dead pheasant on her small table. _

"_And what if you were not here, I would still have to pay out for the food," Gwen reasoned, eyeing the dead animal._

"_Do you not know how to hunt? I should teach you," he concluded without waiting for an answer._

"_Perhaps that is a good idea, Arthur, but when would you have the time?"_

"_I have a hunting trip tomorrow, I will just order to go on my own."_

"_Your father would never allow it."_

"_What he doesn't know won't hurt him," Arthur smiled as the handmaiden laid a plate of freshly cooked food in front of him._

"_There is a lot of that going around," it was Gwen's turn to smirk as she sat herself at the table._

"I thought you knew about hunting?" Merlin asked as Gaius passed him a new shirt. Gwen hid her laugh under a tight smile looking to the floor and away from Arthur's scrutinising glare.

"You never mentioned it to me," Arthur said, his cocky tone gone from his voice. His look genuinely a little hurt.

"You looked so hopeful, I couldn't say no," Gwen reasoned, her hand reaching out to touch his arm again, this time however the caress was soft and less patronising.

"You're too nice to him," Merlin muttered as he pulled his shirt over his head, muttering about the pain in his arm.

"Maybe next time I'll teach her how to use branches to her advantage," Arthur commented, fear washing over Merlin's face, his expression dropping and pleading eyes looking over at Gwen. She didn't seem inclined to stop the Prince. Images of cages and pitfalls and knifes ricocheting off of a tree and stabbing into his arm rather than bouncing off of it blade first.

"Well if you will interrupt people, Merlin," Gaius inputted patting the lad on his injured arm with a hearty laugh.


End file.
